This lesson introduces students to the concept of wilderness
and the role that wilderness preservation has played throughout American
history.Students will conduct research
on different historical wilderness issues or events, and analyze those events
in the context of the political and cultural climate of that particular
time.

·Describe key players and events in the history
of wilderness preservation;

·Research and analyze one historical wilderness
issue or event;

·Design a newspaper from the day of their
assigned wilderness event; link the wilderness event to politics, culture, and
other historical events.

Opening:

What
is wilderness?Ask the students to
list words or phrases that come to their mind when they hear the word
wilderness.Divide the students
into small groups and give each group a different quotation about
wilderness.Ask each group to take
a few minutes to discuss their quotation, and to try to determine the
author’s perspective on wilderness.How might the author define wilderness?What do you think the author thinks is
the purpose or role of wilderness?

Possible quotations to use:

We simply need wilderness available to us, even if we
never do more than drive to its edge and look in.—Wallace Stegner, 1960

(Wilderness preservationists) worship trees and sacrifice
human beings to those trees.They want
to save things they like, all for themselves. — Charles Fraser, paraphrased
in Encounters with Archdruid, by John McPhee 1971

Wildlife once fed us and shaped our culture.It still yields us pleasure for leisure
hours, but we try to reap that pleasure by modern machinery and thus destroy
part of its value.— Aldo Leopold 1948

Without enough wilderness America will change.Democracy, with its myriad personalities and
increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by regular contact with
outdoor growths—animals, trees, sun warmth and free skies—or it will dwindle
and pale.— Walt Whitman

In wilderness is the miracle of life, and behind it our
scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. — Charles Lindbergh, 1967

We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as “wild.”Only to the white man was nature a “wilderness” and only to him was the land “infested” with “wild animals” and “savage” people.To us it was tame.Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.—Chief Luther Standing Bear, of the Oglala band of Sioux.

Nature is no great mother who has borne us. She is our
creation. It is in our brain that she quickens to life. —Oscar Wilde

Wilderness lovers like to speak of the equal rights of
all species to exist. This ethical cloaking cannot hide the truth that green
missionaries are possibly more dangerous, and certainly more hypocritical, than
their economic or religious counterparts. — Ramachandra Guha

After
each group has discussed their own quotation, conduct a “human
likert-scale” activity with the whole class:Place a sign that says AGREE on one side
of the room and DISAGREE on the other side of the room.Have the groups read their statements or
quotations about wilderness and have the rest of the students move to the
place in the room that best represents their own opinion on the
statement.A student who strongly
agrees with a statement should walk all the way to the AGREE side, a more
neutral student should stay in the middle of the room, etc.Allow a few minutes of discussion on
some of the quotations; as students’ opinions change throughout the
discussion, they should move towards the appropriate spot in the room.

Discuss
the different ways that wilderness was represented in these
quotations.What are reasons for
such different perspectives on wilderness?(the time period, the different values
of the author, the context in which it was said)Explain that throughout American
history, wilderness has meant different things to different people; there
have been debates about what it is and what, if anything should be
“done” with it.Explain that they
will each research a particular moment in the history of wilderness
preservation, and analyze the different perspectives of wilderness
represented in the debate.

President Lyndon Johnson signs landmark wilderness legislation, 1964

California Desert Protection Act brings the National
Wilderness Preservation System up to 104.7 million acres, 1994

Have each group of students create a newspaper or front page
of a newspaper that includes their assigned headline.They should research other events that took
place during that year and can include in their paper other news stories,
editorials, advertisements, cartoons, etc.— as long as they are all
historically accurate in both content and style.The article corresponding to their assigned
headline should be an analysis of that wilderness event that:

·Provides basic factual information about the
event or issue;

·describes any debate that led to this event,
describing the main arguments of those supporting this action and those
opposing it;

·links the event to other events occurring in the
United States at the time; explains what, if any, influence the current
political climate had on their wilderness event.

Closing

Have each group give an oral presentation of their newspaper
to the rest of the class.One option is
to present a skit in which a group of people or a family reads their newspaper
and discusses the day’s news with each other.They could also present a news “broadcast” that highlights the day’s
events.

Assessment

Give the students copies of all of the groups’
newspapers.Using the newspapers as the
main resource, have each student write an essay on trends in wilderness
preservation history, and on how wilderness preservation has been linked to
other events and political issues throughout American history.

Extending the Lesson

Have the students role-play a debate on one of these
historical wilderness issues, or have them research a current wilderness issue
and analyze it within the context of politics and culture.One issue the students could research is the
current debate about drilling for oil in the Artic National Wildlife
Refuge.Have the students design a
current newspaper front-page, summarizing the ANWR debate and the most relevant
related issues and news stories.OR, ask
the students to predict how this issue will be resolved in the future and have
the students design a newspaper front page in the year 2007.

Have the students pretend that Congress has proposed a new
holiday to honor or commemorate American wilderness.Have the students submit a “design proposal”
for that new holiday to Congress that includes a description of what this
commemoration should be like.Should it
be a happy celebration?A somber
memorial?How should the history of
American wilderness be represented?Their design can include sketches, maps, or whatever they need to make
their proposal compelling.